


First period

by theWholeShebang



Series: Alfea Tales [2]
Category: Fate: The Winx Saga (TV)
Genre: Bonding, Fluff, Found Family, Maternal Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29514213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theWholeShebang/pseuds/theWholeShebang
Summary: It had been a while since Farah and Terra took one of their girly walks and Terra has some news. (This is kind of a sequel to Too Many boys but also you really don't need to read that one to understand this one.)‘Something happened.’, she observed.Terra stopped walking abruptly and turned towards Farah. ‘Are you in my head?’, she accused.Farah shook her head and tried to hide an amused smile. ‘I’ve known you all your life Terra, I don’t need to be in your head to know something is up.’
Relationships: Farah Dowling & Terra Harvey
Series: Alfea Tales [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2188914
Comments: 21
Kudos: 70





	First period

Their footsteps splashed in the mud as they walked through the field. Endless grey skies above them. The smell of rain still in the air. The woman and the girl walked in silence.  
Normally Farah would not mind. The past few months had been a whirlwind. It felt like it had taken ages to recruit this year's portion of fairies. She was completely done with travelling between the Council, queen Luna and Alfea to secure the school’s funding and to make everything worse the roof in the West Wing was leaking. Again. She would not have minded some peace. But there was something wrong with this silence.

Her companion was never this silent and it worried her. She glanced down at the girl at her side. She had neglected the young girl in the past few months. She really did try to spend some personal time with the kids, but shamefully she had not made them a priority the last few months.  
It was okay with Sky and Sam because they came to her on their own. She acted as referee between every little quarrel between Sky and Saul, because the two of them had the insane ability of driving each other up the walls with their stubborness. He had been in her office plenty of times ranting about all the things Saul did or did not let him do. Sky was a completely open book to her.  
Sam less so, but he walked through her office almost every morning, because apparently it was forty seconds shorter to the cafeteria if you walked through her office (that is if walls do not bother you). Sometimes she could convince him to stay for a cup of tea and so she knew when the boy had slept well and when school had been stressing him out.  
But Terra, sweet little Terra had the annoying habit of feeling like she was a bother. She would not come to Farah if she knew that the woman was busy.

‘I am really sorry that we haven’t done this in so long.’, said Farah.

‘It’s okay.’, smiled Terra. ‘I know you have been really busy with important stuff.’

‘You are important,’, replied Farah sternly. Terra was an absolute sweetheart but she wished that the girl would not dismiss herself so easily. She stopped walking and turned towards the eleven year old. She gave Terra’s wrist a little tug to make the girl look at her.

‘It is not okay, Terra. I promised you that we would always take these walks and I have not done it once since you came back. I am sorry.’

Terra swallowed nervously as she studied Farah’s face, she was not used to being talked to so sincerely by a grownup.

‘You are allowed to be a little mad at me.’, offered Farah.

Terra had spent the autumn semester with Ben’s family in the south as usual and she was still a little bit tan. She had also grown a couple of inches and had swapped her trademark pigtails for a new hairstyle. She looked older. She looked more like Rose than she ever had before and it was with a sting of guilt that Farah remembered the promise she had made to her late friend.

‘You are getting so big,’, smiled Farah as she tucked some hair behind Terra’s ear. ‘Where did your pigtails go?’

For a second it looked like Terra was going to comment but then the girl gave a small shrug and started walking again.

Farah walked along. She could sense that the girl wanted to tell her something but she decided to wait for Terra to bring it up on her own. They walked for ten minutes, neither of them saying a word. As they swapped the fields for the edge of the forest, Farah decided to prompt the girl a little.

‘Something happened.’, she observed.

Terra stopped walking abruptly and turned towards Farah. ‘Are you in my head?’, she accused.

Farah shook her head and tried to hide an amused smile. ‘I’ve known you all your life Terra, I don’t need to be in your head to know something is up.’

Terra tilted her head a little as she observed the older woman, trying to determine if she was telling the truth.

‘It is not a big deal.’, she started, drilling the mud with the tip of her shoe. ‘It is just, I got my first period a few weeks back.’

Shit.

Farah was inwardly cursing herself. This was something Farah should have prepared Terra for. Terra was only eleven, but it did not really come as a surprise. Her body had been changing and Farah should have noticed. Should have warned Terra for what was coming. Ben probably expected her too. Rose certainly had.

She sent a silent apology up in the sky towards her friend for the second time that afternoon.

Terra was suddenly enthralled with the earth beneath her feet and had not looked up at Farah since her statement.

For one selfish second Farah wished that she had not come on this walk. She did not know what to do next.

Terra’s face was hidden by her hair. Her foot shuffling the dirt on the ground. She looked so young. So much like the little girl Farah had known for ages and yet she was getting older. Her hips were wider, there was the beginning of a bump in her shirt.

Farah asked the only question that came to mind.

‘Are you okay?’

Terra seemed startled by Farah’s voice and looked up. ‘Uhm, yeah. I mean aunt Jasmine had told me and Flora everything we needed to know when I was there and she had given dad all the stuff I needed.’  
A light blush appeared on Terra’s cheeks. ‘Like tampons and stuff and she told me that it would probably happen soon… So yeah, it was okay.’

Farah felt both relief and shame. She was relieved that someone had prepared Terra and Ben for what was coming. Yet, she was ashamed that she had not been that woman. That it was the aunt Terra went to for a few weeks each year that had had the clarity of mind to prepare Terra. What must Jasmine and Ben be thinking of her?

She took a deep breath and focussed on the girl in front of her. She immediately decided to not go for the _you’re a woman now_ speech. For one, Jasmine had probably covered that topic. Secondly, it was actually complete nonsense since Terra was only eleven and a well-functioning womb did not make her a woman. And three, she still shuddered thinking about the depressing talk she had had from her mother, which had basically come down to: you are a woman now. Everything you do with boys is your responsibility. Don’t tease them and don’t get pregnant. It was a different time now and she would not do it.

She did however do something that her mum had done too. She wrapped her arms around the girl and pulled her close. She felt a bit teary eyed and she did not want Terra to see it.

When she had composed herself, she held Terra at an arm length distance and smiled at her.

‘It sucks a little, doesn't it?’, she said empathically.

Terra opened and closed her mouth, not sure how to respond. Then she bumped her head into Farah’s chest as she hugged her again.

Terra was clamping at her with a little urgency and Farah could feel her sobs. She rubbed soothing circles over her back, not sure what else she could do.

‘It isn’t that bad, honestly.’, came Terra’s muffled voice against her chest. ‘I don’t know why I am crying really.’

‘I know.’, soothed Farah, holding the girl a little tighter. ‘It is just upsetting sometimes. Just wait until you live with five girls in a suite, you are all on your period and exams are coming up. There isn’t enough chocolate in the world to stop the tears then.’

As soon as she said it, she actually realised how wrong she was. The problem was that Terra did not live in a suite with other girls. She had none of the sympathy or hot water bottles or hot chocolate. She was on her own.

Her hands were still rubbing Terra’s shaking form.

‘I don’t know why I am crying.’, confessed Terra, still hidden in Farah’s chest. ‘It did not even hurt. Dad was really sweet too. He spoiled me a little and then I layed on the couch and I watched tv for a whole morning.’

Farah’s heart ached a little for the girl. ‘It’s okay to cry.’, she promised the girl. ‘Your body is changing. It’s confusing. It’s uncomfortable.’

She remembered her own first period and the absolute betrayal she had felt. Why would her body do something like that to her. Why was it painful and messy and something she had to deal with for the rest of her life. The feeling had soon passed, but first periods could be a little overwhelming.

She was glad that Ben seemed to handle it so well. Not that she was really surprised. He was an amazing father and his experience as a teacher meant that he also knew the odd thing or two about teenage girls.

Terra’s face finally emerged from Farah’s chest, a little blotchy and with an embarrassed smile, but fine nonetheless.

‘I know I have been really absent lately. And I know your father takes excellent care of you, but the next time you get your period I want you to tell me. And the time after that as well. And the next time. And the next time. Okay?’

Terra wiped her eyes and looked at the woman. ‘Why?’, she questioned.

Farah shrugged. ‘Just because everything is a little bit better if you can share it with someone, isn’t it? You can just sit in my office on the couch while I tuck you in with all my blankets or we eat loads of chocolates.’

Terra was not convinced. ‘What if you are away?’

‘Then you ask your father if you can borrow his phone and then you call me. Periods are very normal so we don’t have to act like they are secret.’

Terra nodded thoughtfully. ‘Will you tell me too, if you have your period?’

Only Terra had this ability to totally catch her off guard with her questions.

‘Uhm, sure.’, agreed Farah, a little amused. ‘Let’s keep each other in the loop.’

‘And if you are away, will you call me too?’

It was a little odd to imagine calling the young girl to tell her that her period had started, but Farah figured that it was not really a problem as long as it made Terra happy.

‘Sure, if that is something you’d like.’, she grinned, secretly amused by the idea of sneaking out of one of Luna’s boring meetings to call Ben’s phone, just so she could inform an eleven year old about her cyclus.

Terra hugged her again and Farah pressed a kiss on the top of the girl’s new hairdo.

‘I am glad you are back.’, whispered the girl.

Farah ignored the guilt she felt in her stomach and squeezed the girl a little. ‘I will always come back.’, she promised.

**Author's Note:**

> How do you guys think Farah handled that? This one was harder to write than Too many boys, so I'd really like to know what you guys think.
> 
> Also I am really loving writing about Farah and the kids, especially Terra. I am now working on one with all the kids and the golden trio together but if anyone has prompts or requests, please let me know!
> 
> Love you guys,  
> theWholeShebang.


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